I sometimes worry that there will not be any good stories to read in heaven. A good story requires a really vile villain. The badder the better. It makes us champion the good guy hoping that he wins. We want the bad guy to collect his due. A good story puts the protagonist in jeopardy and makes us wonder how he or she will escape. The last time I heard a sermon about heaven I heard there would be no bad guys in heaven and all danger would be removed. We would always be safe. So what will we do for good summer reading?
Since there will be universal travel available, maybe all books will be travel adventures. But how can they be adventures if there isn’t some intrigue? I do enjoy a good philosophy book but not all the time. The adventures of Marco Polo or Vasco da Gama are exciting to read because of bands of robbers and storms on the sea. What’s to read if they traveled with American Express cards?
Maybe we will read about our personal adventures prior to heaven, but that will soon grow old. Someone once told me we would not remember anything from here and my response was “Then what is the use of this?” The more I try to ponder the future the more dumbfounded I become. I cannot imagine a world without death. If things didn’t die we would have to neuter all our pets lest we be overrun with puppies. So I am just going to trust Jesus to have it all figured out or us. Paul did write in I Corinthians 2:9, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 2, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org